Apparatus for laying mats on landing fields



Sept. 4, 1945. c. H. PAYNE APPARATUS FOR LAYING MATS ON LA NDING FIELDS 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 3 II bl ATTORNEY.

Sept. 4, 1945. c. H. PAYNE APPARATUS FOR LAYING MATS ON LANDING FIELDS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 3, 1942 H PINVEN'IOK I BY ATTORNEK Sept. 4, 3945.

APPARATUS c. H. PAYNE 2,384,395

FOR LAYING MATS ON LANDING FIELDS v Filed April 3, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 EEEEEEE A TTORNE Y.

iatenteel Sept. 4, 1 945 PATENT mm;

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A further objectaia to proyi apna ams...for removin ma immeafi clrarnd loadin iohem .on :a; truck, the N aw a ul s .b in eopel'e e e. s mply :fihrdug'h movement ofth truck across a matilaidjleldl, L esome ofrthee forms, which my. invention. may take are hown if! the accompanying drawings -where1r'1. r a e 4,

i1. of a par l svq manner inrwhieh thedmat .masab drawn from r j rttguck andrlaid Qn,-a field .1 shownuirr Rigs L3 9 A, $116.. ap ar tus; is mounted unonoaetruc s 9r. conwemionaliq mihat QQmprises mehmsua i ont and-rea heels Land. l1;. a.b.-. angimme uAp atemis cou ed-5m. tlrevrramer mempere 3 anisupportsa urntab e L5 fthat .has-easte Jrliuwher bx m m ea i be mrnedand ro ed..fom mmandba wa myken the xm kM-wqui er bs d are provide eon .lzhe. plan Jaeo Jzheeaste s l6 when th h ahle mmlled fo wargi yu t guide th mm a le n re en id e.,. u n n&.mov m nt|ihe aeotnwh nhi ai .ad: vanced tu tlaerzf r an x mane-aer hownin I: an irqmards qfiition mu, e..- cs plexiiwhe ,reloadma'a eria md 1:11 m lex 31. hereinat er ge criped, enskekmwhea d awing: th jfeb e met; iro the. tae el m p eadri o t e ronnelrii frd ein e il e plate J 1 v. lesn a a Je a slate-.1 mhr ush whicnrexgendsa mine Lim secured to the underside of the table [5 and. bag remainin 22 on He Lgwemnmw pr vent @9 denpa @pse m 9 [emp a ement 9 eetum; tame I from tl ne tmiclg me -stud being movable one the l -muw hithfil am e mi ed. w th pm aes. new in r em hma otally connected as shown in Fig. 10. The adjacent edges of each panel, which extend crosswise of the mat formed by the connected panels, has each a spiral wire engaged with its end strand, and a rod 29 extends through both of these spirals, and through loops or eyes 3| formed on the ends of the marginal wires 32 of the panels. The panelscan thereby be .folded upon one another. As shown in Fig. 2, a series of folds 34 are first placed upon the table, thereupon this group of folds is covered by laying a series of panels thereon, as indicated by the line 35. The next succeeding panels are foldedto form a group 36, and the operations repeated until a desired load weight or mat length the truck.

Extending from a tubular member 38 that is secured to the truck frame, are a series of guide rails 39. These extend over the cab l2 and are connected at their forward ends to a tubular member 40, that is in turn secured to the ends of the truck frame or to a bumper, as may be desired. Guide rails 42 and 43,. of angular form in cross section, are provided, for vertically supporting the edges of the mat and to also guide such edges and prevent lateral shifting of the mat when it is being drawn along the guide rails. The rear ends of the rails 42 and 43 areconnected to short rods 44 and 45 respectively that telescope into the member 38, to make adjustments for various widths of fabric. The rods and the rails are held in their adjusted positions by pins 46 that extend through holes in the sleeve bar 38 and in the rods 44 and-45. Intermediate their ends, the rails 42 and 43 are connected to rods 41 and 48 respectively, that telescope into a tubular has been placed on shaft 49 that is rotatably supported in the rails 39. At their forward ends, the rails 42 and 43 are connected with rods 50 and 50a, respectively, that have telescopic engagement with the tubular bar 40.

In order to facilitate laying a mat section along a precisely-defined line orin proper proximity to the edge of a previously-laid section, it being difficult for the truck driver to steer the truck along a precisely-defined straight line, I provide means for guiding the mat as it isdrawn to the ground through forward movement of the vehicle (Figs. 1 and 9). To this end, a bracket arm 5| is secured to the frame I 3 and serves as a pivotal support and fulcrum for a lever 52; This lever may be operated by a man sitting on a lazyboard 53 which is slidable inwardly and outwardly on the underside of the turntable I5. A similar lazyboard 54 is provided at the opposite side of the table, and these boards can be used as platforms on which workmen may stand when necessary in connection with the reloading of the fabric on the turntable, for example. The forward end of the lever 53 is pivotally connectedto a bar 55 that at its ends has holes through which pins or bolts 56 may be inserted. These pins extend through small angles 51 that are welded to the guide rails 42 and 43. The guide rails are therefore adjustable longitudinally of the bar 55, to various widths of fabric. When the fabric mat is being laid upon the ground through advancing movement of the truck, the operator will move the'lever 52 to flex or slide the forward ends of the guide rails 42-43 and thus enable the fabric to be guided along a definite line as it is being fed to the ground,'notwithstanding slight deviations in the path of truck travel. This is particularlyimportant where a mat such as A of Fig. 10 is being laid alongside a previously-laid mat B, so that the edges of the mats will be in proper proximity to one another.

In the operation of the apparatus, the forward edge of the mat will be drawn from the stack on the truck, along the tops of the guide rails and the front edge thereof inwardly beneath the front wheels in of the truck. Forward travel of the truck will cause the mat to be drawn from the table l5 and pressed firmly upon the ground in a taut condition and with no bulges except those produced by hard surface irregularities of the ground.

In soft ground or sand where the mat will usually be laid, it will be drawn and pressed down into small protuberances of earth, and in any event, will be pressed so snugly to the ground that it will usually lay without shifting its position after the truck has passed over it. When one long mat (perhaps 1,000 feet) has been laid, such as the mat B, another load of folded fabric will be placed on the truck and it will run alongside the mat B to lay the mat A. These mats have loops or rings 60 welded to their edge strands 32, so that after the sectionsA and B are laid, rods 6| can be inserted through the loops to tie the mat sections A and B together. The laying of the mats in front of the truck as the truck progresses, not only results in the mat being laid in a tensioned flat position asabove explained, but is further advantageous in that the driver of the truck can conveniently lay the mat with greater accuracy than if it were simply permitted to trail oil? the rear end of the truck as the truck progresses. In the latter case, the mat would tend also to lie in loose waves and not be pressed into snug contact with the ground. Another advantage of laying the mat in advance of the truck is that it will provide a running surface for the truck, in sand or soft ground.

Provision is also made for taking up a mat from the ground and reloading it on the truck. To this end, a sprocket wheel 63 is secured to the hub of one of the wheels II and drives a sprocket chain 64, which in turn drives a sprocket wheel 65 (Fig.

' 3) that is secured to a shaft 68'journaled .on the underside of the truck frame. The shaft carries a sprocket pinion 61 that through a chain 93 drives a sprocket wheel 69, which is secured to the tubular shaft .49 that carries sprocket wheels H. The teeth of the sprocket wheels II engage with the stays of. the mesh as shownmore clearly in Fig. 8, so. that asthe truck is driven backwardly, the sprocket wheels will draw the mat from the ground back acrossthe. guide rails 39-42-43 and push it to the body of the truck, where it ,can again be stacked or folded as by workmen standing on the lazy-boards,5354. The chains 64 and 68 may be disconnected or removed when layingthe fabric, since the forward movement of the vehicle and the weight of the front wheels III on; the mat will cause it to be drawn from the truck body, the sprockets If in that case turning with idling movement, If desired, however, the chains can be left in place and the sprocket wheels H driven when moving. thetruck forwardly during laying of the fabric.

In Fig. 5 I show a somewhat different arrangement than that disclosed in Figs. lto' 4. In this instance, the "groups of 'folds of 'theffabric are arranged in upright position asindic'ated at 13 instead or horizontally as in Fig.2. The fabric can be drawn from those upright stacks through advancing movementjof thevehicle, as in the case' of Figs.'1' and .ZXJ'Ho'WeVer, the arrows 'on this Fig. 5 indicate the truck as being driven rearwardly, in the process-of lifting thefabric from the ground andreloading it on: the truck, the sprocket chains 64 and68 being-driven as'above indicated, through rearward movement of the vehicle. In order to facilitate the reloading of the fabric on therear end of the turntable l5, guidebars l4 areprovided that are -secured-at theirforward ends to a cross bar whichis in turncarried byguide railssuch as-the-rails'39 of Fig. 1. The bar M has extensible sections 16 that telescope therewith, so that thefabricwill be delivered at a desired distance rearwardly of the cab, as indicated by the arrow 11. As the loading progresses, the bar-sections"; will be'telescoped forwardlyinto M. In laying a mat, thes e 'bars will be contracted in telescoped relationjtdfacilitate withdrawal of the matfrom the truck;

Referring now to Fig. 6, I show a'modified form of truck body which-need not have a turntable. In this instance, thetruck frame has a tubular cross member 18 carried near-its rear end for telescopingly receivingbars 1-9 which are adjustable inwardly and outwardly and-may be locked in adjusted position by set screw s aif; These bars carry the rear ends of angles 8i that at their forward ends are weldedto' guide rails 92 that correspond to the guide rails *Hand "430f Fig. l. The rails 8| are therefore adjustable laterally of the truck along with the railsH-JB. In transporting a-load of fabricto'the place of installation, the members 3| and-Elwillbe-adjusted-totheir contracted positions, closeto the edges ofthe truck, and the folded fabric will be so placed that the layers of fold will extend longitudinally of the truck, so-that in the case of 12-foot wide fabric, forexample, it will not project beyond the edges of the truck. When the field-is reached, the-rails 81 and 82* Wi11' b8' expanded to 12 feet spacing, forexampleas shown in Fig.6, and the piles of fabric 'will then be turned to the position shown in Fig. 1, with the edges thereof supported on the angles 8 I. If this turning is to be done manually, the stacks of folds will be discontinuous. That is, the stacks will be formed of separated lengths of fabric, but as unloading progresses, the rear end of the fabric forming each stack will be connected by the workmen to the leading edge of the succeeding stack or series of folds, by inserting the connecting rods 29 (Fig. 10)

In Figs. 11 to 14 I show an arrangement whereby a mat can conveniently be taken up and reloaded during forward traveling movement of a truck. In this instance, the mat can be laid from the truck body by passing it forwardly over guide rails 85 and under the front vehicle wheels during forward travel of the vehicle, as explained in connection with Figs. 1 and 2. By the apparatus shown in Fig. 11, a mat can be lifted and removed from a field through forward travel of the truck which can, of course, be more easily and accurately operated in that manner than in a backward direction. To this end, I provide guide rails 86 .which are curved downwardly at their rear ends and which are adjustable laterally to various widths of fabric, by reason of the telescoping fit between their supporting bars 81 and a sleeve shaft 88 that is carried by the truck frame, the adjustments being maintained by the use of pins 89 that extend through holes in the sleeve 88 and into holes in the rods 81, as in the case of the lateral adjustment of the rails 42-43 of Fig. 1, the rods being flanged at their outer ends to hold the rails in place thereon.

The sleeve 88 serves-as a shaft and :to .this endfthe rods 81 arerotatablein the guide rails 86 so :as to permit rotation of thegsleeve- The sleeveis provided with a sprocket wheel:90 that is driven from one of theitruok wheels 9! .by-a sprocket chain 92 that extends around a sprocket wheel 93 on the truck wheel. Other suitabledriving means could'be provided for the sprocket wheel :QlLas for example, a power take-oii-from the engine shaft. I I

Mesh-engaging sprockets 94 are=mounted on the shaft 83 and :have their teeth staggered for effective engagement withthe mesh wiresat-a suitable number of points. Bearings -95 are provided for the shaft 88, such bearings being mounted inbrackets 96 that are secured to the truck frame. 1

It will be seen'that in removing a mat from a field,the truck will be driven forwardly-in the usual manner, on the mat, and the rear free end of the mat will beJifted into engagement-with the sprocket wheels 94, so that during-continued movement of the truck, the mat 91 will be-ra-ised from the ground progressivelyand pushedonto the body of-the truck. If a considerable quantity of mat is to be thus removed, workmen standing on the truck or alongside thereof, will arrange the-mat into folds 98 as it reaches thetruck body, and these folds can be arrangedin tiers, as shown either in Fig. 2 or Fig. -5. The mat thus loaded can be unloaded and laid simply through backward movement'of'thetruck, or through-forward movement thereof. The latter procedure is, of course, preferable, and in that case the mat will be fed forwardly over the guide rails 85 as the truck moves forward;

Referring now to Fig. -15, 1' show an arrangement wherebymuch larger supplies of mat can be laid-without interruption for loading additional supplies one-truck. In-thisi instance, a truck 10 can initially contain a supply of the mat folds from which the mat will-be drawn and laid in front of the vehicle as the vehicle advances, after the manner described in connection with Figs. 1 to 10. An additional supply of mat will be carried on a trailer truck lfll, the forward end of this additional mat supply being connected to the rearmost end of the mat that was carried on the truck I00, and the trucks connected by a suitable coupling bar I02. It will be understood that the supplies of mats on the truck I00 and 10!, or on the truck I01 alone, can be arranged in stacks or tiers as shown in Figs. 2 and 5.

I claim as my invention:

1. Mat-laying apparatus comprising a wheeled vehicle, means associated with the vehicle for carrying a supply of flexible mat material, guide rails positioned to direct the material from said source of supply to the ground at one end of the vehicle, whereby when an end of the mat is brought into position beneath the wheels at one end of the vehicle, traveling movement of the vehicle in that direction will effect withdrawal of the material from said supply source, and sprocket wheels or the like operable during movement of the vehicle in the reverse direction, to move the material in the opposite direction as it is released by the said wheels.

2. Mat-laying apparatus comprising a vehicle, means associated with the vehicle for carrying a supply of flexible mat material, guide rails positioned to direct the material from said source of supply to the ground at one end of the vehicle whereby when an end of the mat is brought into position beneath the wheels at one end of the vehicle, traveling movement of the vehicle in that direction will effect withdrawal of the material from said supply source, and means driven from one of the vehicle wheels when traveling in the reverse direction, to move the material in the opposite direction as it is released by the said wheels.

3. Mat-laying apparatus comprising a vehicle having an operators station, means associated with the vehicle, rearwardly of said station, for carrying a supply of flexible material, guide rails positioned above said station and extending forwardly and downwardly in position to direct the material from said source of supply to the ground at one end of the vehicle, whereby when an end of the mat is brought into position beneath the wheels at one end of the vehicle, traveling movement of the vehicle in that direction will effect withdrawal of the material from said supply source, and a lifting device for withdrawing the mat from the ground and directing it rearwardly of said guide rails, upon reverse travel of the vehicle.

4. Mat-laying apparatus comprising a vehicle having an operator's station, means associated with the vehicle, rearwardly of said station, for carrying a supply of flexible material, guide rails positioned above said station and extending forwardly and downwardly in position to direct the material from said source of supply to the ground at one end of the vehicle whereby when an end of the mat is brought into position beneath the wheels at one end of the vehicle, traveling movement of the vehicle in that direction will effect withdrawal of the material from said supply source, and means for withdrawing the mat from the ground and directing it rearwardly of said guide rails, upon reverse travel of the vehicle, the said means comprising sprocket wheels mounted on the guide rails and driven from one of the vehicle wheels.

5. The combination with a vehicle which is movable on a mat from one end to its other end, of means located at the rear end .of the vehicle for progressively lifting and stowing portions of the mat over which the vehicle has passed, the said means comprising guide rails and a rotatably mounted sprocket at the rear end of the vehicle.

6. The method of laying mats to form a supporting surface on soft ground and the like, which comprises storing a supply of the mat material on a vehicle, placing an end of the material on the ground and under ground-engaging members of the vehicle at one end of the vehicle, and moving the vehicle in a direction forwardly of said end and upon succeeding portions of the mat while supporting the material for progressive withdrawal thereof from the vehicle.

'7. The method of laying mats to form a supporting surface on soft ground and the like, which comprises hingedly connecting a series of matsections, folding them against one another and storing the series on a wheeled vehicle, in relatively folded arrangement, placing an endmost section under the wheels at one end of the vehicle, and moving the vehicle in a direction forwardly of said end while supporting the material for progressive withdrawal thereof from the vehicle.

8. The method of placing a mat-like supporting surface under the wheels of vehicles while they are traveling, which comprises stowing a mat on a vehicle, at a plane above the wheels, and progressively discharging the mat to the ground in advance of the vehicle, through engagement of the wheels with a forward portion of the mat.

9. Apparatus for laying mats on terrain, in advance of vehicle wheels, which comprises the combination with a vehicle of means thereon for supporting a mat, and means for guiding the mat to points forwardly of the wheels as it is drawn from the vehicle through forward movement of 0 the vehicle when its wheels are upon a forward portion of the mat.

CHARLES H. PAYNE. 

